Entertainment

At Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center, every day is Earth Day.

It’s not uncommon for the volunteers and staff who operate the 252-acre ecosystem to be caught up to their elbows in dirt, up to their knees in swamp or even with their hands in a beehive. So, as you can imagine, they know how to throw an Earth Day bash for the rest of us.

If there’s any truth to the Italian proverb that one does not age while seated for a meal, then Sophia Loren is living proof. At 76, the woman known the world over as the Italian Marilyn Monroe credits her killer curves to one lifelong beauty secret: pasta.

The days of gun-slinging roughriders who deliver swift justice might be over, but that cowboy code of honor, integrity and courage is still very present in the men of Southeast Texas. Men who challenge the obstacles of life head on with determination — from business ventures to the fight against a life-threatening disease — are the men who achieve the impossible and inspire courage.

The bouncing bazaar known as the Merchant Soiree returns April 14, hoping to host many good fellows at Goodfella’s. In the words of Shakespeare, the merchants invite you to buy with them, sell with them, talk with them, walk with them—at what’s squaring up to be the biggest and most lovely Soiree yet.

So what exactly is the source code? As one character relates, “it would take weeks to explain,” and time is something in short supply in this movie. On a morning commuter train traveling into Chicago, Capt. Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) jolts up from a little snooze to find he doesn’t know where he is. His seatmate, Christina (Michelle Monaghan), keeps calling him Sean and his reflection in the train’s window reveals a different face.

While we harbor no disrespect for the Wall Street Journal who called us “that scrappy little paper from Southeast Texas,” we prefer to think of ourselves as simple seekers of the truth. We’re of the opinion that headlines and sound bites never tell the whole story. Our readers demand all the facts, facets and flavors of every story or event. And, they expect to be informed, educated and stirred to action.